2. SYMBOL TABLE
• A symbol table is a data structure used by a
language translator such as a compiler or
interpreter
• where each identifier in a program's source code is
associated with information relating to its declaration
or appearance in the source, such as its type, scope
level and sometimes its location.
3. Symbol table
• Symbol table is a major data structure used in a
compiler which associates attributes with identifiers
in a program.
• A symbol table information is used by the analysis
and synthesis phases to verify that used identifiers
have been defined (declared), to verify that
expressions and assignments are semantically
correct (type checking), to generate intermediate or
target code.
4. Features Of Symbol Table
This symbol table is used for the following purposes:
It is used to keep all of the names of all entities in
one place in a structured format.
It is used to check whether or not a variable has
been declared.
It is used to identify the scope of a name.
It is used to implement type checking in source code
by ensuring if assignments and expressions are
semantically accurate or not.
5. Basic Operations of a Symbol table
The basic operations defined on a symbol table
include:
allocate – to allocate a new empty symbol table
free – to remove all entries and free the storage of a
symbol table
insert – to insert a name in a symbol table and return
a pointer to its entry
lookup – to search for a name and return a pointer
to its entry
set_attribute – to associate an attribute with a given
entry
get_attribute – to get an attribute associated with a
given entry
6. Cont…
• Other operations can be added depending on
requirement. For example, a delete operation
removes a name previously inserted.
7. Possible Implementations Techniques:
Unordered list: for a very small set of variables.
Ordered linear list: insertion is expensive, but
implementation is relatively easy
Binary search tree: O(log n) time per operation for n
variables.
Hash table: most commonly used, and very efficient
provided the memory space is adequately larger
than the number of variables.
8. SYMBOL TABLE FORMAT:
Symbol table is an environment that stores
information about identifiers, a data structure that
captures scope information.
Each entry in symbol table contains: Name, Kind,
Type and additional properties.
Symbol table contains the following format:
